


Of Boyfriends and Chicken Pasta

by Persephone Rose (Likemycoffee)



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 12:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22316365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Likemycoffee/pseuds/Persephone%20Rose
Summary: Callum picks Lexi up from school and cuteness ensues
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 9
Kudos: 127





	Of Boyfriends and Chicken Pasta

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a Tumblr prompt I received asking for ‘Callum and Lexi surprise Ben’. Not sure this is exactly what they had in mind but there is definitely a surprise for Ben...

Ben had his head stuck under the bonnet of a Ford Focus at the side of the A12 when his mobile started ringing. ‘Sorry mate. It’s my daughter’s school,’ he said to the punter as he brought the phone up to his ear. ‘Hello, Ben Mitchell.’

‘Hello Mr Mitchell, it’s Mrs Jenkins from Walford Primary School...’

‘Is Lexi alright?’ Ben asked quickly cutting the woman off. 

‘She’s fine but I’m afraid we have a burst water pipe in school and we are going to have to close for the rest of the day so it can be repaired. Will someone be able to come and collect Lexi? I know her mum is the first emergency contact but we haven’t been able to reach her.’

‘No,’ Ben sighed. ‘Lola’s away this week. Look, give me a few minutes. I’ll sort something out and call you back.’

‘Sorry mate,’ Ben apologised again to the customer, who thankfully seemed understanding, and he tried calling his mum. Her phone rang twice and then went to voicemail. Ben left a quick message asking her to call him back, while running through a mental list of the people he trusted enough to look after his daughter. It wasn’t a long list. There was his mum, his brother Ian but he would be working at this time of day and Jay, but he was currently away with Lola on a couples only holiday in Tenerife. There was no way on this earth he was going to ask his Dad or any of his other Mitchell relatives, he’d rather walk off this job and collect Lexi himself, which really left only one person.

***

Callum had just gotten back from the Minute Mart and was unpacking his shopping when his phone rang. He smiled when he saw Ben’s name on the screen.

‘Hi baby,’ Callum answered. ‘You alright?’

‘Cal,’ Ben sounded stressed. ‘Are you busy right now?’

‘Not especially,’ he replied. ‘Why what’s up?’

‘Lexi’s school have called,’ Ben said. ‘There’s a burst water pipe and they’re closing for the day. Someone needs to pick her up but I’m out on a job and I can’t get hold of my mum and I’m really sorry to ask but...’

‘Hey it’s fine,’ Callum replied. ‘I can go get her.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yeah it’s fine. I’ll go now and bring her back to mine. I’m sure I can keep her entertained until you finish work.’

‘Oh, thank you so much, babe. I’ll let the school know you’re on your way yeah?’

‘Yeah, no worries. I’m on my way now.’

Callum pulled his coat back on, grabbed his keys and set off for Walford Primary School.

***

Lexi was tremendously excited when he arrived at the school. 

‘Callum,’ she said. ‘I never believed it when daddy said you would pick me up.’ 

‘Well your dad’s busy at work so here I am,’ Callum smiled at her. 

‘There’s water all coming in my classroom,’ Lexi told him. ‘I wanted to stay and watch but Mrs Robinson said it was too dangerous. We had to go and wait in the hall.’

‘Well she was right,’ Callum smiled and he introduced himself to Lexi’s teacher, who seemed satisfied that he was indeed the person who was supposed to be collecting Lexi, not some random weirdo and allowed Callum to take Lexi by the hand and leave the building. He walked down the main road, Lexi skipping beside him. 

‘Can we go to the park?’ Lexi asked with a wide smile. 

Callum shrugged. ‘Yeah, I don’t see why not.’

The kids playground was empty and so Callum sat on the bench and watched while Lexi ran around playing on the slide. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Ben. 

‘Got Lexi. We’re at the park x’

It took a couple of minutes for the reply to come through. ‘Thanks babe. I’ll come find you as soon as I’m finished with this job x’

Callum rolled his eyes and typed another message. ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re having fun. Just come get her from mine when you finish work x’

‘You sure? x’

‘Yes. Stop worrying. We’re fine x’ 

‘Alright. See you later. Hope she’s behaving x’

Callum smiled to himself and snapped a photo of Lexi, now playing on the swings and sent it to Ben along with the message ‘See? Good as gold x’

When they finished at the park Callum and Lexi walked back to his flat. Lexi swinging her book bag along beside her. Since they’d gotten together, Ben had been insisting, understandably, on taking things slowly when it came to his daughter so as far as Lexi was concerned, Callum was just her dad’s friend who went on days out with them sometimes. This was the first time Lexi had been inside Callum’s flat and she cast a critical eye around the living room, once she’d removed her coat and shoes. 

‘Do you have any toys?’ she asked. 

‘Um - no not really,’ Callum said apologetically, only just realising how ill equipped his flat was for a child. He would need to think about remedying that in the near future, at least he hoped so. ‘I can probably find you some paper to draw on though if you want. Do you want a drink?’

Lexi nodded and continued exploring Callum’s flat. ‘Who’s bedroom is that?’ she asked, pointing to the door. 

‘My brother Stuart’s,’ Callum replied.

‘And is that one yours?’

‘Yep. That’s right.’

‘That’s my Daddy’s jacket,’ Lexi said pointing at the leather jacket that was slung over the arm of the sofa.

‘Er - yeah he left it here the other day,’ Callum told her, pouring orange squash into two glasses and setting one down on the table in front of Lexi. 

‘Does my Daddy live with you sometimes?’

Callum smiled at her. ‘He doesn’t live here but sometimes he stays overnight.’

‘Like a sleepover?’

‘Um - yeah. Kind of like that,’ Callum blushed, hoping Lexi wouldn’t notice. 

‘I didn’t know boys had sleepovers. My friend Meghan’s having a sleepover for her birthday. Mummy says I can go to it.’

‘Well I’m sure you’ll have a great time.’

‘We’re going to play games. Do you and Daddy play games when you have sleepovers?’

Surprised at the question and the mental images of the last night Ben had stayed over that suddenly flashed through his brain, Callum started to cough on his drink. Thankfully, this distracted Lexi from her line of questioning and she patted his arm until he stopped coughing. 

Callum found some blank paper and he sat with Lexi while she drew a few pictures but she lost interest quickly because Callum didn’t have a lot of coloured pens. 

I tell you what,’ Callum said, glancing at the clock. ‘Why don’t we make some dinner for your dad when he finishes work? What do you reckon?’

‘Can I help?’ 

‘Of course,’ Callum replied. ‘Need my sous chef don’t I?’

‘What’s a soup chef?’

‘Sous chef,’ Callum smiled. ‘It’s like the second in command. It’s a very important job.’

Callum saw Lexi’s eyes light up and was reminded so much of Ben when he was given praise. It made Callum’s heart swell. 

‘What are we going to make?’ Lexi asked, running off to the kitchen. 

***

Ben had to admit he was a little bit worried. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Callum with Lexi, because he absolutely did. He knew his boyfriend was sensible and trustworthy. He wouldn’t do anything stupid that might cause Lexi to get hurt, that wasn’t the problem. The thing he was worried about was that the reality of having to look after Lexi would scare Callum away. 

One of the first big conversations they’d had after getting together properly had been about Ben’s daughter. Ben had wanted to make sure Callum understood that he and Lexi were a package deal but he didn’t want Callum to feel overwhelmed at the prospect of becoming a step dad overnight and so at first, Ben had been careful to keep the two most important people in his life separate. He only saw Callum on the nights when he didn’t have to look after Lexi and he didn’t tell Lexi about Callum at all. He didn’t want to bring someone new into her life until he was sure that he and Callum were definitely serious, as much for his own protection as Lexi’s. 

They’d been together for four months when Ben had tentatively suggested that the two of them could maybe take Lexi bowling. Callum of course, had agreed and when the day came, Ben had introduced Callum to his daughter as ‘Daddy’s friend’. The three of them spent the afternoon together at the bowling alley. Ben had won (Callum seemed to think that they should’ve let Lexi win and Ben wondered briefly if Callum even knew him at all). Lexi had come second. It had been fun and Callum brought Lexi an ice cream afterwards, which pretty much meant they’d be friends for life. 

It had gone on from there. They’d taken Lexi to the zoo and swimming. Callum had even sat through a god awful Disney film at the cinema without complaint. Ben thought that things had been going well but Callum had never actually had to look after Lexi by himself before. Ben was worried that the experience would make him realise that the reality of dating a man with a child was too much and he’d go running for the hills. So it was with a sense of trepidation that Ben climbed the stairs to Callum’s flat and walked in the front door. 

‘Hello?’ he called out. Callum had buzzed him into the flat but there was no sign of him or Lexi. 

‘We’re in here,’ Callum called and Ben walked towards the sound of Callum’s voice. As he entered the kitchen, he was met with a sight that made his heart melt. 

Lexi was standing on a chair, so she could reach the kitchen counter and she was very carefully cutting up mushrooms on a chopping board, Callum was standing next to her supervising and making sure she didn’t cut herself with the knife. 

‘Look Daddy,’ Lexi said proudly. ‘Callum said I’m the best soup chef ever.’

Callum smiled at Lexi’s mispronunciation but didn’t correct her. 

‘Wow that’s amazing baby,’ Ben said enthusiastically. ‘Looks like you two have been busy.’

‘We’re making chicken pasta,’ Callum said. ‘Well - Lexi is. I’m just helping,’ he winked at Ben. 

‘The onions made us both cry,’ Lexi said. ‘But Callum said if we wash our hands again then we’d stop crying and it really worked.’

‘Callum’s really clever isn’t he?’ Ben said to Lexi, winking at Callum. ‘Thanks for picking her up.’

‘It was no problem,’ Callum said honestly. ‘We’ve had fun.’

‘Daddy, did you know Callum used to cook for hundreds of soldiers in the army?’ Lexi asked and Ben feigned surprise. 

‘Really? Wow that’s pretty cool isn’t it?’

‘Yeah and he had to peel thousands and thousands of potatoes.’

‘Did he?’ Ben laughed and Callum smiled at him. 

When the mushrooms were chopped, Callum helped Lexi carefully add them to the sauce and then it was time to boil the pasta. Lexi tipped the dried pasta from the bag into the pan of water - far too much but Callum didn’t care - and then put the lid on to wait for it to boil. 

‘It’ll be a few minutes to wait now, Lex,’ Callum told her, helping her down from the chair. ‘Why don’t you go and watch TV for a bit and I’ll call you when it’s ready?’

‘Ok,’ she agreed and disappeared from the kitchen. 

As soon as she was gone Ben grabbed Callum by the hips and pushed him against the worktop, kissing him hard.

‘What was that for?’ Callum asked when they parted. ‘Not that I’m complaining.’

‘I love you.’ The words slipped out before Ben really registered what he was saying and they hung in the air between them. It was as if time had stopped for a few seconds as Callum’s eyes widened at the admission. 

‘Really?’ he asked, as though afraid that Ben was going to take the words back. 

‘Yeah,’ Ben nodded. 

Callum smiled wider than Ben had ever seen him before. ‘I love you too,’ he said softly and then leaned in to kiss Ben again, his hand coming up to caress Ben’s neck in the way that made his knees weak. They kissed for several minutes and when they parted, Ben was pleased to see Callum’s face was flushed and his lips slightly swollen. 

‘Fuck,’ Ben sighed breathily. ‘Come back to mine tonight?’

‘What?’ Callum asked. ‘I thought you didn’t want to when Lexi was around?’

‘But I’ve missed you the last few days,’ Ben smiled. ‘And I think maybe it’s time to explain to Lexi that you’re my boyfriend. Don’t you?’

Callum bit his lip and nodded. ‘Yeah. Alright,’ and he kissed Ben again. 

When the pasta was cooked, Callum drained the water and called Lexi to help plate up the dishes. 

‘It looks amazing baby,’ Ben told her when she proudly presented Ben with his dinner and the three of them sat down to eat. Lexi chattered away, telling Ben all about the flood in the classroom and going to the park with Callum. 

‘You had fun today, yeah?’ Ben asked. 

Lexi nodded. 

‘Do you like it when Callum spends time with us?’

‘Yeah,’ Lexi replied. ‘Callum’s fun.’

‘Well the thing is baby...’ Ben trailed off, glancing at Callum, who was looking nervous. ‘You remember I told you Callum was my friend? Well... it’s a little bit more than that. Callum’s my boyfriend.’

‘Like Jay is mummy’s boyfriend?’ Lexi asked, looking thoughtful.

‘Exactly like that,’ Ben said. 

‘I thought so,’ Lexi said matter-of-factly. 

‘What do you mean, you thought so?’ Ben laughed. 

‘Because when Callum plays with me you look at him the same way mummy looks at Jay when he plays with me.

Ben swallowed hard and looked at Callum again feeling strangely emotional. Fuck, how lucky was his little girl to have so many people who love her? 

‘So you’re alright with that then, Lexi?’ Callum asked softly. ‘Me being your dad’s boyfriend?’

‘Callum,’ Lexi said. ‘If mummy has a boyfriend and I’ve got a boyfriend then Daddy should have one too.’

Callum started to smile, before Lexi’s words fully hit home and then he glanced at Ben, who suddenly looked horrified.

‘What?’ Ben asked her. ‘What do you mean you’ve got a boyfriend?’

Lexi shrugged. ‘I’ve got a boyfriend,’ she repeated.

‘You’re only eight years old. Who’s your boyfriend?’

‘Jamie,’ Lexi replied.

Ben shook his head, reeling from the shock. ‘Who the hell is Jamie?’

‘He’s at my school.’

Ben couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘You’re eight years old,’ he said. ‘How old is he?’

‘Nine.’

‘Nine?’ Ben repeated and in a voice that sounded suspiciously like a squeak. ‘No Lexi he’s too old for you.’

‘He sits at my table for English.’

‘He does, does he?’ Ben said and Callum could see his fists clenching on the table. 

‘Ben you can’t beat up a nine year old boy,’ Callum told him firmly. 

‘I can if he’s messing around with my eight year old daughter,’ Ben grumbled. 

‘He’s a kid. How long have you been with him for Lexi?’ Callum asked. 

‘Two days,’ Lexi replied proudly.

‘Oh so he’s working fast is he?’ 

‘Ben!’ Callum glared at him. 

‘What?’ Ben replied. ‘I don’t like it.’

‘What do you do with him, Lex?’ Callum asked with an amused smile. 

Lexi shrugged. ‘We share felt tips and he gave me some of his sweets.’

Ben let out a whine of despair and got up from the table, walking towards the bathroom. 

‘What’s wrong with Daddy?’ Lexi asked. 

‘Oh he’s just being silly,’ Callum replied with a smile. ‘Do me a favour though, Lexi - wait a few years before you do anything more than share sweets with a boy alright?’

Lexi just looked puzzled. What more could there be to do?

***

‘Are you sure I can’t beat up a nine year old?’ Ben asked Callum as they cuddled in bed that night, Lexi sleeping peacefully down the hall. 

‘Have you listened to yourself?’ Callum replied. 

‘I know,’ Ben said tiredly. ‘She’s just growing up so fast and one day she won’t be my little girl anymore.’

‘She’ll always be your little girl,’ Callum told him. ‘And she’s always going to need her dad.’

‘I love you,’ Ben said, squeezing Callum’s forearm. 

‘Yeah,’ Callum replied, pressing a kiss to Ben’s hairline. ‘Yeah. I love you too.’


End file.
